Black Power, Civil Rights, Black history, and anything related to the empowerment of black people. From Malcolm X and Martin Luther King to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, we are interested in what empowers our people.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Huffington Post: Black Unemployment and the Great Black Disconnect for Obama

President Obama has a problem, a very serious one. The president's problem is what I would call "The Great Black Disconnect." This divide is the place where black America's love and appreciation for the Obamas disconnects from the intense economic suffering of the African American community. Like a festering and infected wound that remains untreated, President Obama's support within the black community is threatened by the fact that the people who love him most are suffering unlike anything our nation has seen over the last 50 years.

This week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its unemployment numbers for the month of April. The figures were consistent with the jobless recovery that has taken good care of Wall Street, but created homelessness on Main Street. The national unemployment rate grew from 8.8 percent to 9 percent, which will surely perpetuate President Obama's somber ratings on economic performance.